In the event of over-subscription at the allocation date, places will be allocated using the maximum CGS grade over the previous 12 months. Some places may be guaranteed for overseas players, as long as they have a minimum grade of at least 2000, at the discretion of the Tournament Director. In addition, up to 2 priority places will be reserved for U21 players. The procedure for the allocation of these places will be as follows.Allocate 30 places as above. Allocate the remaining two places using the following steps.(a) Take the highest ranked remaining eligible U21 player (if any) without a place and give that player a place. Repeat this step until there are either no places or no eligible U21 players remaining.(b) For any places remaining, fill these using CGS grade (converting from handicaps as necessary). An eligible U21 player is one who meets the handicap requirements of 2 or better.

Cheques to be made payable to the Croquet Association. Please note: all cheques will be presented for payment on receipt at the CA Office. Encashment of cheques does not mean that a player has been accepted for a tournament. Should a player not be accepted, then a full refund will be given.

All accepted entries on the allocation date will be emailed by the Tournament Director shortly afterwards to confirm their place. All accepted entries on the closing date will be emailed shortly afterwards by the Tournament Director confirming their acceptance or placement on the waiting list.

Programme:

Tuesday

Event 2 - Doubles block play.

Wednesday

Events 2 & 4 - Completion of block play if necessary. Start of knockout and plate.

Unless time is lost due to weather conditions or similar, all matches will be 13-point, best-of-3.

Time limits may be imposed AMD if there is consistently slow play.

The use of double-banking will be minimised where logistically possible.

The initial format will be block play, the number of blocks dependent on number of entries. Sixteen players will be selected from the blocks for a best-of-three knockout play-off for the final. In the event of ties in the block position, play-offs may be introduced AMD, otherwise the published procedure in the Tournament Regulations will apply.

The format of the knockout draw will use a version of Modified Grade Based Seeding:

Rankings will be updated with all block matches, and all grade references further down the methodology will use this updated grade

The draw will be done fully in public, using the following methodology

Rank: block winners (#1s) according to grade as 1-4, block runner ups (#2's) according to grade as 5-8. #3's will be randomly assigned positions 9-12 and #4's will be randomly assigned as 13-16, as such the draw may be completed without the knowledge of which competitor will be one or more of the block #3 or #4's.

Place 1-4 in the draw in their respective positions

Place 5-8 in the draw in their respective positions

Place 9-12 randomly, but avoiding any first round block clashes. This is achieved by placing all available positions (9-12) in a bag. Draw a position for player #9, if it isn't a clash insert the player in that position. If it is a clash redraw (without replacement) and insert in that position. Replace remaining positions and draw for player #10 as for player #9. Before drawing for player #11 check whether there is more than one solution, if there is draw, if not, place.

Place 13-16 randomly, but avoiding any first round block clashes. This is achieved by placing all available positions (13-16) in a bag. Draw a position for player #13, if it isn't a clash insert the player in that position. If it is a clash redraw (without replacement) and insert in that position. Replace remaining positions and draw for player #14 as for player #13. Before drawing for player #15 check whether there is more than one solution, if there is draw, if not, place.